Page 2 of When Wishes Bleed

I folded the dark casting cloth, tucked it into the wide pocket of my dress, and removed the bowl of bones from her sight. Tension oozed out of the girl’s muscles as soon as they were gone. I scooped a basket of mismatched candleholders from the shelves, handing it to her. “Place a taper in each, and arrange them in a circle.”

She shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, then back again. “Which one do I start with? They all look the same.”

“You’ll find they don’t feel the same. Hold each one, and then place it where you feel it belongs. The pattern is yours to design.”

Her lips pinched together.

“Think about a question to which you’d like to know the answer. Focus on it and the feel of the taper in your hand, then place it. If you allow it, the wax will show you the answer in the pattern you make. Let me know when you’re satisfied with the circle. The colors will reveal themselves, and I will decipher them for you.”

She swallowed thickly and then picked up a taper, closing her fist around it and shutting her eyes for a brief moment before popping them open. She placed the first taper in the candleholder located at the twelve o’clock position. Slowly, she formed a circle, guiding each taper around the circumference in varying positions until every holder was full. She couldn’t see past the opaque wax to the color lying beneath, but I knew each one by heart. Her arrangement surprised me. It contained jarring combinations of yellow and black, violet and green, orange and white. When she’d completed the circle, she glanced up expectantly.

“You’re satisfied?” I asked.

She looked over the circle she made and nodded. “This feels right.”

“I didn’t expect this from you,” I revealed, waving my hands over the sacred circle. The tapers lifted from their holders and began to spin around in the air. Their true colors absorbed into the white wax from the tip of each taper to its base. I expected to read her pattern, but again, she surprised me. Or rather, her future did. One candle in particular chose her, which was a rare gift.

Her eyes struggled to keep up as the tapers slowed, and she watched warily as a single candle left its position in the wheel and drifted into the center. The wax was the color of eggplant, or a deep and long-lasting bruise – an unfortunate fortune for any witch to garner, but a wise witch would heed the warning and might be able to change her fate…

“What does it mean?”

“It’s a warning.”

She gulped.

“Foresight is a gift of Fate. If you heed his warning, you can make choices to avoid a catastrophe.”

Her lips barely moved, but I saw them form a soundless ‘catastrophe’.

“What will happen to me?” she asked.

I whispered an incantation. Flame seared its wick, growing tall and flickering. Dark smoke drifted toward the ceiling. She watched the flame, the element and source of her power. The reflection of fire shone in her eyes. “Extinguish it,” I said softly.

She closed her eyes and the flame died instantly.

“Stay away from the border.”

“For how long?” she was quick to ask. Too quick.

I quirked a brow. She shouldn’t be going there unaccompanied, anyway. “Why are you leaving without permission?”

The girl swallowed.

Gripping the taper, I read the lingering breath she’d blown onto the wick. “A boy in Twelve? You’ve been sneaking across for months.”

Her eyes widened. “Please don’t tell the Priestess. I’ll be banished from the House.”

“The young man’s heart is as black as his words are sweet. He’s luring you into a web of lies. You should never see him again.”

Her lip began to quiver.

Oh, no. I could already feel the punch of emotions roiling through her. There was nothing I could do to stop a feeling as strong as love, but if I could get through to her, make her see that it was a love that had never been reciprocated… “Do you love him?”

“Yes,” she croaked.

“He does not love you.” A fat tear fell onto her cheek. She looked down at her shoes. Ashamed. “Deep down, you already know this.”

A second tear fell from her eye. This one splashed onto the tip of her leather boot.

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